1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of stored value commerce systems and, more particularly, to a stored value commerce system capable of distributing value to anonymous users.
2. Description of the Background Art
Existing stored value systems typically provide a stored monetary value that may be utilized by consumers to purchase predefined goods and/or services. For example, stored value prepaid cards are currently used in prepaid telephone calling applications where the value associated with the stored value card may be consumed solely for the purchase of telephony services.
In the case of a stored value card retaining a residual value insufficient to purchase a reasonable amount of telephony services, the residual value is typically lost. Alternatively, even where the residual value of a stored value card is more than sufficient to procure goods and/or services, a user may simply wish to redeem the residual value as cash. The present state of the art provides no straightforward way to retrieve or redeem the residual value of the stored value card. Additionally, even if retrieval of such residual value were possible, there is no present method for anonymously retrieving such residual value.
These and other limitations associated with the prior art are overcome by the present invention of a stored value system enabling anonymous redemption of stored value, or anonymous purchases wherein the exposure of the stored value account holder is limited by an amount determined by the account holder.
In accordance with one broad method aspect of the present invention, a method for anonymously certifying a value from a stored value account associated with a stored value card holder (SVCH) includes: (a) submitting an authorization request to a stored value card provider (SVCP) from the SVCH to guarantee the value, the authorization request including an anonymous account identifier for the SVCH; and (b) sending an authorization response corresponding to the authorization request from the SVCP to the SVCH, the response including an anonymous user authorization number, distinct from the account identifier, provided by the SVCP and linked to the value whenever the value does not exceed the stored value in the account of the SVCH.
In accordance with another broad method aspect of the present invention, a method for anonymously certifying a value from a stored value account associated with a stored value card holder (SVCH) utilizing a trusted agent (TA) includes: (a) submitting a redemption request for the value to the TA, the redemption request including an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) account number of the SVCH with the TA, the identity of a stored value card provider (SVCP), and an anonymous account identifier of the stored value account of the SVCH with the SVCP; (b) transmitting a transfer request to the SVCP from the TA to guarantee the value, the transfer request including the TA""s account number with the SVCP, and the SVCH""s anonymous account identifier; (c) transferring the value to the TA""s account with the SVCP whenever the balance in the stored value account is sufficient to guarantee the value; (d) debiting the value from the SVCH""s account with the SVCP; and (e) crediting the SVCH""s ATM account with the value by the TA.
System aspects of the present invention are commensurate with the method claims.